Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Week 9 Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part A

The Mahabharata is a story about kings, queens, heroes, and an all-consuming war. It was told by many different people, in different ways. The Mahabharata is all based off karma everything that happens is due to something that happened previously. King Shantanu fell in love with the river goddess. He asked her to marry him and she said yes only if he would never question her. When they had their first child she drowned it. She then killed the next six children. On the eighth child he asked why she was doing this and her reply was that it was to free the eight celestial spirits. She left him taking the son. King Shantanu saw that an archer had tamed the river with arrows. This man was his son. His son had been taught the way of war and he brought his son home. The city rejoiced with his father. Shantanu later fell in love with fisherman’s daughter and asked her to marry her. She said no unless he would make her heir king. He couldn’t and left home sad. His son saw his father’s sadness and set out to make the fisherman’s daughter say yes. The prince begged the fisherman and eventually brought him along. Shantanu’s son promised never to be married. Shantanu promised him for this that death would not be able to touch him unless he willed it. When his father passed he taught his father’s children how to be men. He eventually found a wife for his brother by kidnapping princesses from another kingdom. After Bheeshm brought back the three princess’s one of them asked him if she could marry the man she loved. The other princesses stayed behind in the palace. When the one princess went to the man she loved he turned her down because she had been kidnapped by another man. Bheeshm the son of Shantanu said no when she came crawling back to him and begging him to marry her. She declared that she would not rest until she repayed him for his crime. She found someone to fight the king and they fought for 21 days neither fell. Queen Satyawati after the last son’s death ordered Bheeshm to marry both the other princesses and give birth to another heir. He refused and she told him he had a brother from another land. Vyas was the child and Vyas promised her to come when she called for him. She asked him to father the children for the kingdom. The two women thought him ugly and did not want to lay with him.



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